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shopping with clients

I've gotten several clients into white sneakers this season. I even got myself into them! My Rag and Bone white sneakers have been a go-to shoe for me all summer with pants, skirts, and dresses. I looked down at them the other day and thought, "I'm wearing these into the fall as well!"
I was in Nordstrom this week meeting a client. I was early. I saw Adam in the designer shoe department. He's my fave shoe guy. I had to preen my sneakers in front of him. He sold them to me.
He's such a patient sales associate. I always ask for him to help me when I'm shoe shopping with my clients. After he got spoiled by how easy they are to work with, I brought him the really tough client: ME!
He's a shoe geek so when he enthusiastically insisted I try this product to keep my sneaks ...

My key to shopping success with my clients is to start by telling them they're going to be uncomfortable. In fact, I guarantee it. When I say this they giggle nervously. But it's true. If they've seen themselves wearing what they've been wearing for years and we're changing things up because of their style recipe or lifestyle changes, the result is going to be fairly dramatic just because it's different.
Here's a case study
I hadn't worked with this particular client in quite some time. Let's call her Denise. She's a busy professional and a very successful, distinguished author. She wanted help with eyewear. What motivated her to call me was that she'd be spending time in New York with her publisher soon. She'd just finished her latest book. For several weeks/months she'd be on ...

A client made a request that I didn't think I could fulfill. I didn't even want to try, to be honest. She's a longstanding client of mine, I love her to pieces, and saying no would be hard. The good thing is she understood what a big ask it was. She knows me that well.
"Brenda, would you consider doing a shopping appointment with me by phone using Skype or Dropbox where I could send you photos of me in clothes and ask you questions? I want to understand how you look at something and determine why it's right for me. I want to see what you're seeing. I think this would help me a lot."
Backstory
She hates to shop. She waits until holes are in her shoes before she sends me that email with high alert messaging: "I literally have nothing to wear. You'd be appalled. Can ...